The Talenar kingdom was kept in the dark by the swarm, any official sent was infected and given fake memories. While this would work for a month or two, suspicions would arise once the deceased individuals won't show up to any official gatherings.
The swarm used this time to prepare for a full-scale war, evolving new drones and increasing production. New drones were developed to counter cultivators and perform specialized activities.
Floating drone hives were grown to counter melee cultivators, so ranged units could fire from a distance. These floating structures would act as floating hives, supplying, growing, commanding, etc. These hives would appear similar to a blimp, floating using light gases. These hives would be nearly 400 meters long, with a large 100 meter canon similar to a hive super weapon.
Ground armies would contain large amounts of shield units, used to defend infestors, spine shooters, and front line artillery. These shield units would be covered with a strong metallic keratin exoskeleton, with limited anatomy and fast regeneration. Medic drones would accompany these armies, they would gather dead drones into a large sack and regenerate them.
The city had supplied the swarm with a large amount of bio-material, enough to grow around 400,000 drones. The majority of this bio-material was used to grow the third hive and improving infrastructure, but enough material was left for around 50,000 combat drones.
Two floating platforms were grown, which would maintain nearly 20,000 flying drones, while the ground army would consist of 30,000 drones.
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Three months later
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The swarm received info that the king had ordered a meeting of all top kingdom officials. In response the swarm mobilized it's forces, preparing a sneak attack on the capital. Infected spies had already been planted into the capital, who were modified to be able to investigate Qi formations and locate weak spots.
After several hours of waiting the caravans arrived at the palace. The large group entered the palace, who were welcomed by a group of infected spies. The infected spies waited until everyone entered before slamming the palace doors shut. The infected spies started expanding before exploding into a pile of steaming substance that covered the door.
Before any of the cultivators among the group could react 5 large explosions shook the palace. The palace formation flickered weakly, threatening to dissipate at any second. Several seconds later thousands of smaller explosions struck the palace, shattering the formation.
Panic spread throughout the group, after the formation shattered everyone ran towards the palace door. The first person to touch the substance on the door immediately collapsed, who started spasming and contorting in strange ways. A nearby cultivator noticed this and swung their sword at the door, trying to break it open. While the door was opened the substance was splashed into the crowd.
The cultivator who had swung at the door got a face full of the searing white substance. He violently screamed before ripping out his throat and collapsing into a pile of his own blood. The crowd quickly gave up on going through the doors, so they started running towards any nearby windows. Before they could jump through flying creatures smashed through the windows and exploded into a large pile of acid. The crowd was quickly thinned, leaving only a small group of cultivators. The strong cultivators of the group started to react and try to locate the source of the attacks, but before they could react several large explosions struck the palace again, quickly leveling it.
Without the protection of the formation the palace was quickly flattened, along with the surrounding area. The floating hives quickly sent more combat units to the palace rubble to clear out any survivors. Several drones exploded into a large pile of white substance, covering the palace perimeter. Artillery drones continued to fire at the rubble, while flying drones surrounded the palace perimeter, taking out anyone that tried escaping.
The occasional blast of energy would attack a group of drones, but for every drone killed a dozen more took their place. The surviving cultivators cowered in fear, while the strongest amongst them tried to thin out the drone numbers. After a minute of continual bombardment only the strongest foundation establishment cultivators remained. They were eventually targeted down and killed with the swarm super weapons.
Once the cultivators had fallen the ground drones arrived to clear up any remaining resistance and infect the population. Weak cultivators from around the city were rounded up and infected, who were put to work measuring the aptitude of the population and gathering ambient Qi from the ruins.
The crater filled ruins of the palace were filled with mobile networks, while the nearby floating hives helped grow gathering drones and supply bio-material to the new hive. Specialized scouting drones dispersed around the kingdom, looking for ore veins and areas filled with dense biomass.